Dear Friends, I left you as we were about to go to the Cricket on Saturday. What a debacle that was! We arrived early at the stadium in Colombo, were body-searched, our bags were checked and we were allowed in with our backpacks, thermoses, cameras, food and water. A far cry from the Test in Brisbane when we were lucky to get any of those items into the Gabba. Our seats were in the open but under cover on the lower level of the stand and we spread out early and found spots that were not behind pillars. There was a good crowd who were kept entertained with screaming competitions, loud music to encourage them to dance and win prizes, announcements suggesting that this was Pakistan’s big chance to bring down the mighty Aussies, and sundry other distractions. Murray had gotten the kangaroo blown up and Skippy was very popular with the children especially. Most of the stadium was barracking for Pakistan, but a few Sri Lankans were hoping Australia would win.
Some of the crew - Patrick, Chris, Wes, Karen, Norma, Jenny, Keith & Kerry with Maurie & Jonno in front
I found a radio station that spent half its time commentating in Singhalese and the remainder in English. The commentators were thoughtful and entertaining, but sadly the Aussies were not. We had not been advised that no meals were included in our tickets and Wes, Norma and I had gone with little or no food, expecting conditions like the Indian Test tour. The only food for sale was ice-cream; KFC and potato chips and the only drinks were tea, coffee and water, until the water ran out early in the piece. So we made do with bags of potato chips. It was poya, so there was no alcohol available at the ground much to the disgust of the Aussie blokes. Murray got so desperate that he abandoned Skippy and caught a tuk-tuk that drove him to a bar, where he bought 3 cans and drank them in the tuk-tuk, so the police wouldn’t catch him.
The crowd was very generous in its applause of Aussie fours (not many) and later of Brett Lee’s bowling as they love him and he responds well to them. After Pakistan had won, everyone got up and danced to loud music, blew horns incessantly and waved flags. We walked back to our bus and were driven to the hotel, where most of the men headed for their mini-bars. Wes and I had a half bottle of Jacob’s Creek Shiraz, which we downed as our dinner.
The next morning we had to be in the bus by 7.30am for our trip to the Maldives. We all breakfasted early and well, as we had not eaten any dinner the night before. It took about an hour to drive to the airport and another hour to complete formalities. Then Wes, Norma and I settled in a tea & coffee bar and spent an enjoyable hour chatting together. We were unable to take any liquor into the Maldives, so had to be satisfied with window shopping. Finally we boarded the plane for the 45 minute flight to Male, which took an hour, then we spent another hour going through immigration and customs – most of the men had secreted grog in their luggage and that was removed by Customs. We then enjoyed a 30-minute speedboat ride to our island, where we were greeted with cool drinks and lovely smiles.
In the rainforest crossing a makeshift bridge – leech territory!
Our huts were beautiful – close to the beach, with lovely views through the palm trees. Our shower was in the outdoors, but the rest of the bathroom was indoor. We were all so exhausted after 8 hours of travelling, that everyone spent a quiet afternoon, swimming, walking, watching India & West Indies on TV or sleeping.
We had been given set tables for meals, so made sure we were sitting with Norma & Jenny, who is finding the whole thing a bit of a challenge. Wes & I are the only couple on the trip and there are only 3 females. We have taken Jenny under our wing as John & Keith lose the plot once they get with the blokes. Dinner at night was a buffet and that set the scene for the rest of our stay – buffet meals with anonymous red & white wine served by the glass, but not in front of you!
We spent our time relaxing – Wes getting in the water whenever he could and me avoiding the sun and doing crosswords and logic puzzles and reading Reginald Hill (Dalziel & Pascoe) in sequence. We walked around the island after breakfast, which was enough for me to need another shower. Wes went snorkelling over coral one morning, which was a fabulous experience. Each night we sat around drinking and chatting with the others.
Norma & I at our Kandy Hotel
We had to be up very early to leave the Maldives and the hotel put on a Continental breakfast at 6am, which was a nice surprise. We flew back to Colombo and straight into the bus for the trip to Kandy. On the way we stopped at a lovely rest-house for lunch and a tea factory in the afternoon. Our hotel was beautiful, way up in the hills, which were too steep for our bus, so we moved into a smaller bus and our luggage went into another van and we met at the top! We had stunning views from our room. Wes went and had a massage and came back raving about it. I had an Arrack cocktail and unwound, Norma joined us for dinner and we lashed out on a bottle of champagne.
The next morning we were up early and had a three-hour bus trip to Sigiriya, where we climbed the rock, all 1,200 steps. It is a little safer than when we did it in 1979 in sarongs & thongs, but we still felt an incredible sense of achievement. Only 7 of us got to the top. We didn’t get back to our hotel until 4pm and everyone was dying to watch Australia vs India in the cricket. Our thanks to Carol Bruce and Jane Knox for cricket scores and to Barbara Simpson and Carol for footy scores. The Carlton supporters were very nervous, especially when Richmond were ahead, and relieved when the Blues won and assumed top spot on the ladder. Carol buttered up again the next afternoon with St Kilda and Geelong scores and information, as well as letting us know about Black Caviar, which made her messages very popular.
We made it!
We ended up taking over the Tea Lounge in our hotel, where the biggest TV screen was and the waiters kept cold beers up to the thirsty Australians and brought us a la carte meals. Norma, Wes and I all had massages during the break – mine was the most painful massage I have ever had – Ayurvedic and Herbal, but it certainly got rid of all the aches from the climb and finished in a herbal bath. We were pleased to see Ponting make a century, but the Aussies didn’t score enough to give India too much trouble.
Yesterday, after breakfast we set off for Colombo via the old Kandy Cricket Ground and the Elephant Orphanage. I found the experience rather unsettling, even though we were assured that the elephants were being well looked after. There was a group of young school children coming in as we were leaving so I gave them each a sheet of stickers and was very popular while I had presents.
We finally got back to the Galadari Hotel around 5pm, were delighted to be checked into a Non-Smoking floor, unpacked and showered and then caught a tuk-tuk to The Sizzle restaurant, which Wes had found on Trip Advisor. It is a fascinating concept – no alcohol, but plenty of mocktails, everything served on sizzle platters – we had prawns and mushrooms to start with and then lobster, prawns and fish for main course. We couldn’t finish our dinners – they were so yummy and served with pepper and chilli sauces, rice, vegetables and potatoes!
Yesterday morning I waded through 60 emails – I haven’t been able to download easily and Wes has, but it has cost him nearly $300 so far, so we are pleased to be able to use the laptop again. We will have internet access until we leave here on Wednesday afternoon for Mumbai.
Wes found Radio Australia for me and I have spent 2 hours listening to ABC radio’s broadcast of Collingwood’s victory over Port. It’s not as good as being there, but I am not complaining as I got all the atmosphere. Then on to the bus, Skippy now wearing a Sri Lankan flag, and off to the Stadium again to see Sri Lanka easily defeat England in very hot and trying conditions. We were utterly exhausted by the end of the game as the noise never lets up. Keith Stackpole had invited us, Norma, Jenny & John to his room afterwards for white wine and chips and we chatted about footy for an hour or so.
At the cricket
Murray with Skippy
This morning we have free, so I am sending this to you and will try and get another one out before we leave on Wednesday. Thanks to Danny Millman for the footy scores last night – no mean feat as he was at a birthday party in Sydney! There are enough AFL followers to be keen to know about each of the teams. I hope Earth Hour went well for everyone and I’ll be in touch again soon.
P.S. The line of the trip goes to Maurie, who was trying to find the cricket on his radio and complained that he had found a station commentating but it was ‘in some foreign lingo’! Maurie also spends his time telling our bus driver to go down a gear as he twists his way around the winding roads – much to everyone’s amusement.
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